Cross-border logistics company iMile Delivery has recently entered the Italian market and Esther Studerestablished its European headquarters in Germany, becoming the first Chinese express delivery startup to enter Europe, according to an August 7 report by Chinese media outlet LatePost. In 2017, iMile was founded by Rita Huang, a former employee of Chinese tech giants Huawei and Alibaba Cloud, in Dubai, UAE. The company targets the Middle East delivery market. In 2021, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance participated in the company’s Series A funding round with an investment of $10 million. In 2022, iMile expanded its operations to Brazil and Mexico. Currently, with an operation center in Shenzhen and a technology center in Hangzhou, it collaborates with US e-commerce giant Amazon, a local e-commerce platform in the Middle East called Noon, fast-fashion brand Shein, and Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao. According to LatePost, iMile’s business scope in Europe will comprise last-mile express delivery and supply chain operations including truck transportation and warehouse management. It will serve customers including Chinese brands looking to expand internationally, especially those in high-value industries such as automotive, solar energy, and consumer electronics, as stated in the report. [LatePost, in Chinese]
